Date of issue: 26 September 2025
Date of effect: Immediate
Reference number: MAA 2025-04
Attention
- Industry bodies
- Organic approved certifying bodies (ACB)
- Exporters
Purpose
This Market Access Advice (MAA) is to notifyexporters, ACBs and other stakeholders that a mutual recognition arrangement (MRA) on organics equivalence between India and Australia came into effect on 24 September 2025.
Key points
- The following products are included in the scope of the MRA:
- unprocessed plant products, excluding seaweed, aquatic plants, and greenhouse crops,
- processed foods composed of one or more ingredients of plant origin, and
- organic wine.
- Australian organic products that are certified to the Australian National Standard for Organic and Bio-Dynamic Produce and within this scope may now be exported to India and labelled and marketed as organic without certifying to India’s National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP).
- The following products are not included in the scope of the MRA:
- in-conversion agricultural products and processed products made from in conversion agricultural products,
- aquaculture products, including algae, seaweed and other aquatic plants or plant-like species,
- greenhouse crops,
- mushroom products,
- apiculture products, and
- livestock products.
- Under the MRA, department-approved certifying bodies must:
- ensure that every consignment of organic goods sent to India is accompanied by an Organic Goods Certificate (OGC) in the prescribed format;
- ensure that the product is included within the scope of the arrangement;
- treat non-compliant products/consignments as conventional if non-compliance is found and apply disciplinary measures as per the Sanctions section in Australia’s National Standard for Organic and Bio-Dynamic Produce.
- Additionally, under the MRA, the labels of organic products exported from Australia to India must include the logo of the ACB that certified the products.
- The Manual of Importing Country Requirements (Micor) will be updated to reflect this market access advice.
Further information
Please contact OrganicExports@aff.gov.au or ExportStandards@aff.gov.au if you have any queries.
The information provided in this advice is current at the time of writing and is intended for use as guidance only and should not be taken as definitive or exhaustive. The Commonwealth endeavours to keep information current and accurate, however, it may be subject to change without notice. Exporters are encouraged to verify these details with their importers prior to undertaking production/exports. The Commonwealth will not accept liability for any loss resulting from reliance on information contained in this notice.